Chapter 10

Chapter 11

I kicked the wall, thoroughly irritated, and took out a chunk of it by accident.

We had finally run out of luck, and with it, we had run out of leads.

Now that Rushmore was gone, no-one except the creatures themselves knew where they were hiding. Everyone was utterly powerless; we hadn't even caught a glimpse of them (barring the pixelated shot of them in the newspaper), and every single one of us was utterly powerless.

Seeing my frustration, Edward walked up behind me and enveloped me into an understanding embrace. When I looked into his coal-black eyes, I knew mine were the same. None of us had so much as smelt a drop of blood since we had been here.

Noticing everyone's exasperation, Esme decided that we would all go hunting as a group. While we were gone, the wolves would take double shifts to make sure nothing got past us. Besides, we weren't much use when we were so thirsty.

While Esme spoke to us all, I detected that she was acting as the leader of our family. Come to think of it, where was Carlisle anyway? We had hardly seen him the past few days; he had insisted on going somewhere else on his own, instead of searching with the rest of us.

Before I could even open my mouth to ask this question, Alice froze. She was having a vision, and Edward was watching with her through her mind.

While Alice was still recovering, Edward explained what she had seen.

"Nothing… Absolutely nothing," he said breathlessly.

"What do you mean? Of course there's nothing, she can't see these bloody Pegasi, can she?" Emmett chimed in, subtle as ever.

"But she wasn't looking at their future, Emmett; she was looking at ours," Edward revealed. "And that means…"

"We'll be having a run in with these winged creatures," Alice announced, bright and bouncy again under Jasper's influence. "And pretty soon, as far as I can tell."

"Excellent!" Emmett exclaimed, flexing his biceps in preparation to make full use of them. Rosalie rolled her eyes, but then seeing his face fall, winked at Emmett reassuringly.

"Which also means," Esme interrupted, "we definitely need to feed. Possibly even sooner than I had anticipated."

"We'll go as soon as it's dark," Edward decided. "There's a forest just southwest of the city."

The eight of us were noticeably better spirited after having received this information. We told the wolves of our plan shortly before nightfall, and they were just as happy to hear the news.

They continued patrolling the streets and underground tunnels of London, fully prepared to fight to the death.

Realising how ready they were to fight these unknown creatures, I staggered, a little shocked. I had never fought, not even as a human. I had no idea what to do, how to defend myself or others against… anything, really.

Edward's eyes tightened as he saw me tense up. He raised his eyebrows enquiringly.

"I know it sounds insane…" I began, "but… I'm a little scared, Edward. I have no idea how to fight them," I whispered, for some reason afraid that the others would hear me.

"Don't worry, love," he reassured me, ever the optimist. "We'll practice lots. I'm sure we'll have time to train you up before our little run in."

I smiled, calmer (probably due to the fact that Jasper was now very close behind us), but I wasn't happy about the prospect of ever-looming violence. I sighed inwardly, and continued to run.